[gruseom]

Yeah, that seems to be the historical lesson: free markets don't stay free on their own, so there's a limited role for government to play in keeping them free, much as there's a role for referees in sport. To me this isn't particularly controversial. But "free" is one of those words that easily leads to pointless arguments because people are working from different definitions. To me, "free" doesn't imply no government involvement, precisely because of the paradox you mention [~]. It has more to do with competition and meritocracy (may the best man/woman/product win).

[~] Edit: by contrast, npk's comment implies that "free" means "absence of laws". A different definition.